1989 Chilean general election

General elections were held in Chile on 14 December 1989,[1] bringing an end to the military regime that had been in place since 1973. Patricio Aylwin of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy alliance was elected President, whilst the alliance also won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the elected Senate seats.

1989 Chilean presidential election

December 14, 1989

Nominee Patricio Aylwin Hernán Büchi Francisco Javier Errázuriz Talavera Party Christian Democratic Independent Independent Alliance Concertación / UD DP / DR LSC / PN / AN / SUR Popular vote 3,850,571 2,052,116 1,077,172 Percentage 55.17% 29.40% 15.43%

President before election Augusto Pinochet Military Elected President Patricio Aylwin Christian Democratic

Presidential election ballot paper

From the 1989 elections onwards the military had officially left the political future of the country to civilians to be elected. Pinochet did not endorse any candidate publicly. Former dictatorship minister Hernán Büchi ran for president as candidate of the two right-wing parties, RN and UDI. He had little political experience and was a relatively young (40 years) technocrat credited for Chile's good economic performance in the later half of the 1980s. The right parties faced several problems in the elections: there was considerable infighting between RN and UDI, Büchi had only very reluctantly accepted to run for president and right-wing politicians struggled to define their position towards the Pinochet regime. In addition to this right-wing populist Francisco Javier Errázuriz Talavera ran independently for president and made several election promises Büchi could not match.[2]

The centre-left coalition Concertación was rather united and confident. Its candidate Patricio Aylwin, a Christian Democrat, behaved as if he had won and refused a second television debate with Büchi. Büchi attacked Aylwin on a remark he had made concerning that inflation rate of 20% was not much and he also accused Aylwin of making secret agreements with the Communist Party of Chile, a party that was not part of Concertación.[2] Aylwin spoke with strength about the need to clarify human rights violations but did not confront the dictatorship for it, in contrast Büchi as a regime collaborator lacked any credibility when dealing with human rights violations.[2]

Büchi and Errázuriz lost to Patricio Aylwin. The electoral system meant that the largely Pinochet-sympathetic right was overrepresented in parliament[2] in such way that it could block any reform to the constitution.[2] This over-representation was crucial for UDI to obtain places in parliament and secure its political future.[2] Pinochet declared himself to be satisfied with the election. The far-left and the far-right performed poorly in the election.[2]

Results

President

Candidate	Party/coalition	Votes	%
Patricio Aylwin	PDC/CPD	3,850,571	55.17
Hernán Büchi	Independent/D&P	2,052,116	29.40
Francisco Javier Errázuriz	Independent	1,077,172	15.43
Valid votes		6,979,859	100.00
Null votes		103,631	1.45
Blank votes		75,237	1.05
Total votes		7,158,727	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,557,537	94.72
Source: Tricel via Servel

First round Aylwin   55.17% Büchi   29.40% Errázuriz   15.43%

Senate

Coalition	Party	Votes	%	Seats
Coalition of Parties for Democracy	Christian Democratic Party	2,188,329	32.2	13
	Party for Democracy	820,393	12.1	4
	Radical Party	147,364	2.2	2
	Humanist Party	35,534	0.5	0
	Independents	523,369	7.7	3
Democracy and Progress	National Renewal	731,678	10.8	5
	Independent Democratic Union	347,445	5.1	2
	Independents	1,290,886	19.0	9
Liberal-Chilean Socialist	Liberal Party	10,129	0.2	0
	Chilean Socialist Party	4,254	0.1	0
	Independents	199,618	2.9	0
Alliance of the Centre	Radical Democracy	28,695	0.4	0
	National Advance	697	0.0	0
	Independents	62,015	0.9	0
Broad Party of Socialist Left		288,397	4.2	0
Party of the South		45,584	0.7	0
National Party		43,741	0.6	0
Independents		32,282	0.5	0
Invalid/blank votes		358,032	–	–
Total		7,158,442	100	38
Registered voters/turnout		7,556,613	94.7	–
Source: Nohlen

Popular vote Concertación   54.63% DyP   34.85% PAIS   4.24% L/SCh   3.15% Independents   0.47% Others   2.66%

Seats summary Concertación   57.89% DyP   42.11%

Results by region

Region	Coalition of Parties for Democracy	Democracy and Progress	Party of the South	Alliance of the Centre	Liberal-Socialist	National	Unity for Democracy	Independent
I Región	47.13%	30.64%	0.00%	0.00%	3.85%	0.00%	0.00%	18.37%
II Región	41.38%	34.81%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	23.81%	0.00%
III Región	61.82%	33.36%	0.00%	0.00%	2.45%	0.00%	0.00%	2.37%
IV Región	36.85%	35.82%	0.00%	5.63%	0.00%	0.00%	21.70%	0.00%
V Región	48.77%	35.20%	0.00%	0.00%	7.49%	0.00%	8.55%	0.00%
VI Región	59.22%	27.54%	0.00%	11.22%	2.02%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
VII Región	59.61%	34.23%	0.00%	0.00%	6.17%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
VIII Región	46.90%	34.76%	0.00%	4.01%	0.00%	0.00%	14.33%	0.00%
IX Región	49.95%	32.77%	11.84%	0.00%	0.00%	5.44%	0.00%	0.00%
X Región	57.04%	42.96%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
XI Región	55.99%	40.78%	0.00%	1.91%	1.31%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
XII Región	66.23%	31.11%	0.00%	2.66%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Región Metropolitana	59.90%	35.03%	0.00%	0.00%	4.24%	0.83%	0.00%	0.00%
Source: Servel Electoral

Chamber of Deputies

Coalition		Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Coalition of Parties for Democracy		Christian Democratic Party	1,766,347	26.0	38
			Party for Democracy	778,501	11.5	16
			Radical Party	268,103	3.9	5
			Humanist Party	52,225	0.8	1
			The Greens	14,942	0.2	0
			Independents	619,595	9.1	9
	Democracy and Progress		National Renewal	1,242,432	18.3	29
			Independent Democratic Union	667,369	9.8	11
			Independents	413,780	6.1	8
	Unity for Democracy		Broad Party of Socialist Left	297,897	4.4	2
			Democratic Socialist Radical Party	1,330	0.0	0
			Independents	61,374	0.9	0
	Alliance of the Centre		National Advance	57,574	0.9	0
			Radical Democracy	28,575	0.4	0
			Independents	91,793	1.4	0
	Liberal-Chilean Socialist		Liberal Party	47,237	0.7	0
			Chilean Socialist Party	10,398	0.2	0
			Independents	148,503	2.2	0
	National Party			53,819	0.8	0
	Party of the South			47,387	0.7	0
	Independents			127,941	1.9	1
Invalid/blank votes				361,524	–	–
Total				7,158,646	100	120
Registered voters/turnout				7,556,613	94.7	–
Source: Nohlen

Popular vote Concertación   51.49% DyP   34.18% UpD   5.31% L/SCh   3.03% Independents   1.88% Others   4.11%

Seats summary Concertación   57.50% DyP   40.00% UpD   1.67% Independents   0.83%

Results by region

Region	Coalition of Parties for Democracy	Democracy and Progress	Party of the South	Alliance of the Centre	Liberal-Socialist	National	Unity for Democracy	Independent
I Región	47.70%	37.16%	0.00%	1.84%	4.68%	0.00%	7.52%	1.10%
II Región	59.78%	30.32%	0.00%	1.62%	4.58%	0.00%	0.00%	3.70%
III Región	44.50%	32.02%	0.00%	2.09%	2.76%	0.00%	16.88%	1.76%
IV Región	57.73%	33.71%	0.00%	4.68%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	3.88%
V Región	49.69%	35.35%	0.00%	3.60%	4.16%	0.00%	6.27%	0.94%
VI Región	47.34%	33.10%	0.00%	3.21%	2.50%	0.00%	13.15%	0.71%
VII Región	58.70%	32.47%	0.00%	2.13%	0.00%	1.76%	0.00%	4.94%
VIII Región	47.08%	33.61%	0.00%	5.51%	0.00%	0.00%	8.83%	4.97%
IX Región	45.51%	32.95%	9.27%	1.61%	0.00%	4.72%	4.50%	1.43%
X Región	51.88%	36.87%	2.59%	0.17%	0.00%	3.16%	4.23%	1.10%
XI Región	45.79%	39.75%	0.74%	1.54%	0.78%	1.84%	9.57%	0.00%
XII Región	65.03%	31.58%	0.00%	3.39%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Región Metropolitana	52.70%	34.53%	0.00%	1.69%	5.36%	0.49%	4.40%	0.84%
Source: Servel Electoral

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p262 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
2. Angell, Alan; Pollack, Benny (1990). "The Chilean Elections of 1989". Bulletin of Latin American Research. Society for Latin American Studies. 9 (1): 1–23.